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The Best Diet? That Depends on You
Author: Guest
The Best Diet? That Depends on You
From the multitude of weight-loss plans, pick one tailored to your traits.
By Kathleen Doheny
HealthDay Reporter
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THURSDAY, May 13 (HealthDay News) — You know you need to lose weight. And you know you’re ready, which is more than half the battle. But you still have to pick from a seemingly endless array of weight-loss plans.
How to decide?
Experts who counsel overweight patients say there are two keys:
- Know yourself. That means being honest about what you will and won’t do, long-term.
- Evaluate and pick the diet that best suits you, watching out for key phrases or promises that are probably too good to be true.
Choosing a weight-loss plan that’s going to work “takes some self-reflection,” said Amy Jamieson-Petonic, a registered dietitian who directs wellness coaching at the Cleveland Clinic and is a spokeswoman for the American Dietetic Association.
“Are you an online type who likes to chat?” she said. “Or do you want a formal meeting?”
Some people find that plans that offer prepared meals help them stick to the plan because it takes the whole portion-control task out of their hands, said Suzanne Farrell, a registered dietitian in Denver who also is an association spokeswoman.
As far as accountability, Jamieson-Petonic said, it’s important to figure out if you’ll do all right by weighing yourself at home — and can be honest about it — or if you would do better by going somewhere where your weight would be charted by someone else.
“Think about and analyze how you currently eat,” said Judy Rodriguez, a professor of nutrition at the University of North Florida and author of The Diet Selector, in which she rates diets based on long-term flexibility and other factors.
“We are all unique in our food preferences, values, lifestyle, etc., so it seems like trying to ‘fit’ yourself into someone else’s plan is likely to have only short-term benefits, if any,” Rodriguez said.
Once you know what features you need in a weight-loss plan, look closely at the plans that seem to fit. And be sure that ones you are interested in are scientifically sound, Farrell said.
Key factors to look for, she said, include:
- Does the plan include a variety of foods?
- Does it include high-fiber foods?
- Does it educate you on the value of foods that are low in saturated fat?
- Does it tell you about “good” fats, such as olive oil?
In addition, Farrell said, “look for a plan that emphasizes physical activity and encourages eating regularly throughout the day.”
And watch out for claims and promises that sound too good to be true, Farrell added. A common one, she noted, is rapid weight loss. “It should be no greater than two pounds a week,” she said.
She’s also skeptical of plans that say no exercise is needed. Weight loss means a lifestyle change, she said, and maintaining the loss is best done by keeping an eye on food intake and on staying active.
Another red flag, Farrell said, is a plan that totally eliminates foods or food groups. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in holistic wellness | 
Tags: holistic wellness, men over 50, nutrition, weight loss, women over 50 | 
3 Comments »
8 Best Android Apps for Health and Fitness
Author: Guest
Spring has sprung, summer’s around the corner — it’s time to get outside and get in shape. We know your iPhone-owning counterparts have plenty of apps for tracking their calories and kilometers to stay in shape, but there are plenty of health-related apps in the Android Market, too.
Here are eight highly rated free and paid Android (
) apps that will help you get and stay in shape. If you’ve got recommendations — particularly for apps that will help folks get outdoors while the weather’s nice — please let us know about them in the comments.
1. CardioTrainer Racing
Rating (
): 5 stars
Price: $2.99
Downloads: 1,000-5,000This app combines the free CardioTrainer with a racing application that challenges users to beat their own best times. Motivational features include a virtual race simulator, complete with a voice telling the user exactly how far behind or ahead he is. In addition to the racing module, the free CardioTrainer app can be enhanced with a weight loss module, which will cost you another $2.99 in the Android Market (
).
User comments:
“This works great since it’s so motivating! I’m easily beating my previous times. Well done on Droid!”
“The perfect running coach.”2. Fast Food Calorie Counter
Rating: 4 stars
Price: $1.99
Downloads: 1,000-5,000Even when you’re trying to watch your weight, it’s sometimes impossible to resist the allure of fast food. Whether you’re in a hurry or have a sudden craving for a Frosty, this app can help you mitigate the disastrous effects of too many fried, mayonnaise-drenched, delicious snacks. The app tracks and serves data for almost 9,000 items from 72 fast food restaurants. Data includes calories, fat grams, fiber, carbs and protein. There’s also a free version of this app, Fast Food Calorie Counter Lite.
User comments:
“Good resource, but needs to be updated more often.”
“Helps me stick to my diet since I eat out at times.”3. Endomondo Sports Tracker
Rating: 4.5 stars
Price: FREE
Downloads: 10K-50KThis is a great application for runners, cyclists, joggers, rollerskaters/rollerbladers, or folks who simply like to take a walk from time to time. It helps you track your time, distance, speed and altitude, and keeps a history of your workouts. The app integrates with Google Maps (
) and your audio playlist in addition to the website, to allow for a more detailed analysis of your progress.
User comments:
“Works seamlessly. Excellent social integration. Highly recommended.”
“The best. I have tried so many other apps of this style and none compare to Endomondo’s accuracy and speed.” Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in holistic wellness |
Tags: android, holistic wellness, men over 50, nutrition, women over 50 |
14 Comments »
Sunshine On Your Health
Author: John
Lately, vitamin D is showing up in the news more often. It used to be the ho-hum vitamin that you got from drinking your milk and playing out in the sunshine. Apparently, this vitamin is much more important to our health and has many previously unknown attributes that can enhance your holistic wellness. Vitamin D is naturally produced by the human body when exposed to direct sunlight. Many factors including season, skin coloration, cloud cover, smog, and sunscreen affect UV ray exposure and vitamin D synthesis in the skin, and it is important for individuals with limited sun exposure to include good sources of vitamin D in their diet.
As civilization and the industrialization enabled humans to work indoors and wear more clothes when outdoors, these cultural changes reduced natural production of vitamin D and caused deficiency diseases. In many countries, foods such as milk, yogurt, margarine, oil spreads, breakfast cereal, pastries, and bread are fortified with vitamin D2 and/or vitamin D3, to minimize the risk of vitamin D deficiency. In the United States and Canada, for example, fortified milk typically provides 100 IU per glass, or a quarter of the estimated adequate intake for adults over age 50. Fatty fish, such as salmon, herring, catfish and sardines are natural sources of vitamin D. Other natural sources include: fish liver oils, such as cod liver oil, whole eggs, cooked beef liver, and UV-irradiated mushrooms. In the United States (U.S.), the 100% Daily Value used for product labels is 400 IU/day.
Posted in health and wellness |
Tags: health and wellness, holistic wellness, men over 50, nutrition, women over 50 |
22 Comments »
Research, The Anchor Of Any Plan
Author: John
My last post talked about changing your life using some research , some planning and some determination. This post is just a list of healthy foods that you can use to move toward that goal of holistic wellness and some reasons why you might want to choose them.
Whole Grains
- Whole wheat bread, wheat bran cereals, and whole wheat pasta contain high levels of insoluble fiber for gastrointestinal health.
- Oatmeal is rich in soluble fiber to help lower cholesterol levels.
Nuts
- High in monounsaturated fat to help maintain healthy cholesterol levels.
Tomatoes – fresh, canned, juice or sauce
- Lycopene is an antioxidant found in tomatoes that may decrease the risk of cancers — particularly prostate cancer and, more recently, breast cancer.
- Lycopene is most able to be used by your body when it has been cooked.
Salmon and Tuna – fresh or canned
- Rich in omega-3 fatty acids that may decrease the risk of heart disease and stroke.
Olive Oil
- Rich in monounsaturated fats to help maintain healthy cholesterol levels.
Green Leafy Vegetables – fresh or frozen (spinach, kale, chard, green leafy lettuce)
- Contain flavonoids to help prevent memory loss.
- Rich in carotenoids which help to ward off macular degeneration, a leading cause of blindness.
- Eat these greens with avocado to help your body absorb these nutrients better.
Garlic
- Can help decrease cholesterol levels, lower blood pressure and perhaps prevent cancer.
- Acts as an antibiotic.
Dried Beans and Peas – dry, canned or frozen
- Loaded with soluble fiber to lower cholesterol, and help maintain healthy blood sugar levels.
Broccoli — fresh or frozen
- May decrease the risk of breast cancer.
- Extremely rich in antioxidants to help protect body cells from disease and aging.
- Excellent source of vitamin C, an antioxidant that helps maintain a strong immune system and may reduce the risk of heart disease and cancer.
- Good source of potassium, an important mineral for healthy blood pressure.
- Steam your broccoli lightly to help your body absorb these nutrients
Fruits of various colors – fresh or frozen
- Loaded with vitamin C, an antioxidant that may reduce the risk of heart disease.
- Loaded with soluble fiber to lower cholesterol, and help maintain healthy blood sugar levels.
- Extremely rich in antioxidants to help protect body cells from disease and aging. Each color is indicative of the different kinds of antioxidants.
- Good source of potassium, an important mineral for healthy blood pressure.
- Eat the whole fruit not just the juice. The solid part of the fruit has fiber that helps regulate your blood sugar and many of the nutrients are in the pulp.
Hopefully this will give you some starting information for your research toward better health.
Be well.
Related Posts:
http://www.northof50.us/holistic-wellness/change-your-life-your-way
http://www.northof50.us/health-and-wellness/something-fishy-in-our-diet
Posted in holistic wellness |
Tags: health and wellness, holistic wellness, mind health, nutrition |
13 Comments »
Change Your Life Your Way
Author: John
Recently, I was watching an episode of Good Eats on the Food Channel. Apparently the host, Alton Brown, had lost some weight (about 50 pounds). His feeling (which echoes mine) is that diets usually don’t work in the long run and don’t make you feel better. His idea was to make a life change in the way he eats and thereby produce a positive effect in his health. He came up with his own plan and in the process lost 50 pounds, lowered his cholesterol and improved his self image.
The system that he concocted to produce this life change is brilliant in it’s simplicity. Using his knowledge about food and working with the premise of eating nutrient dense food instead of energy (calorie) dense food, he was able to lower his overall intake. He made four (4) lists to use as his daily outline. The lists split various foods into daily, 3x weekly, 1x weekly and finally 0 (zero)x weekly. The daily list had items like fruits , nuts, and whole grains. The 3x weekly had oily fish sweetpotato and avocado. 1x weekly had red meat, dessert and alcohol . And the never (0x) list included fast food, canned soup and “diet anything.” His one big rule is always eat breakfast which helps prevent bingeing later in the day. A few lists and some rules, what could be simpler.
You can do the same thing. If you feel the need for a change, a little research, a simple plan and a little determination and you can do the same thing. There’s plenty books andauthoritative online information to pick from. People like Andrew Weil, Dean Ornish and Jorge Cruise all have books and informative websites to gather information from about holistic wellness. Then put your plan together and go forward to a better life. Not a diet but life change for the better. Good Luck and…
Be well.
Take the initiative, and you will create your own opportunities.
There is no substitute for action backed up by a well-thought-out plan. -Napoleon Hill
Posted in a simple life, holistic wellness |
Tags: health and wellness, holistic wellness, nutrition |
31 Comments »
